This partnership builds on foundational work between CUNY and CDI initiated in Fall 2024 and expands CUNY’s efforts to integrate dialogue as a core institutional practice.
CDI will support CUNY in scaling a multi-tiered strategy for cultural transformation, ensuring that dialogue becomes embedded across leadership structures, student engagement programs, and classroom experiences.
Key components of the initiative include:
- Leadership Development and Institutional Change – Training for the presidents and cabinets of the 25 CUNY campuses to build institutional capacity for leading through polarization and embedding dialogue as a strategic priority across campuses.
- Dialogue Facilitation Certification – A certification program for student-facing staff across all CUNY colleges to build sustainable, campus-wide networks of dialogue facilitators.
- Faculty and Student Engagement – Dialogue facilitation workshops for faculty and student leaders across the 25 CUNY campuses to empower educators and student influencers to shape classroom and campus-wide discourse.
- Scalable Online Learning – Implementation of CDI’s Perspectives online learning program across CUNY’s campuses to equip students, faculty, and staff with the skills to engage constructively across differences and create a shared framework for dialogue.
- Evaluation and Impact Assessment – Measurement of the effectiveness of these initiatives to track shifts in campus climate.
“As the nation’s largest urban public university, CUNY has a responsibility to foster a campus culture where all voices can be heard and difficult conversations can be navigated with respect,” said Rachel Stephenson, Chief Transformation Officer at CUNY. “Through this partnership with CDI, we’re building a culture of engagement and trust that will prepare our students to work across differences in all domains of their lives.”
CDI brings deep expertise in dialogue facilitation, polarization reduction, and cultural transformation in higher education. The organization’s approach is backed by rigorous behavioral science research and has been successfully implemented at more than 95 colleges and universities across the country.
“Our work with CUNY is about reshaping the way members of the CUNY community engage with difference, conflict, and discourse,” said Caroline Mehl, Co-Founder & Executive Director at CDI. “By integrating dialogue practices across leadership, curriculum, and student life, CUNY is making a long-term investment in its community and its future. We’re honored to be partnering with CUNY in this important work.”
Media Contact
Caroline Miehl, Constructive Dialogue Institute, 1 888-814-0006, [email protected], https://constructivedialogue.org
SOURCE Constructive Dialogue Institute
